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Pizarro

The whole concept of no reservations at restaurants has become overly trendy lately, which is why we were a little skeptical about Pizarro at first...knowing that it's already one of London's most talked about new restaurants of the year. But after reading one positive review after another, we knew we had to go and brave the lines. Result: Completely worth it and exceeded all expectations.

We got there around 7pm on a Saturday night, it was just at the cusp of full and we luckily got a great corner seat at the bar. The menu was short and of course different from what we'd seen online, but it wasn't hard to decide what to choose. We stuck with all the small plates trying almost all of them.

But first, some complementary bread with cauliflower and radishes in olive oil.

Here's what we had, ranked in order from unbelievably amazeballs to very good.

1. Beetroot cured salmon, capers, egg yolk. Sounds interesting, tastes delectable. This was the first dish that arrived and after having a bite I immediately knew that it would be the best plate of the evening, and so we saved half for the end of the meal. I was right in my prediction.

2. Lamb's tongues, red onion, gherkins - A very rich and flavorful dish and I loved the combination of the lamb and crispy tangy gherkins. Unfortunately, it was so good I forgot to snap a pic :(

3. Artichoke, cauliflower, soft cheese, walnut - Soft artichoke hearts paired nicely with the walnuts, and it was all marinated in a herb vinaigrette - great but was a little tart.

4. Quail with romesco. It was a whole quail that was cooked perfectly.

6, Pumpkin, cabrales, almonds - A refreshing salad with sweet pumpkin, but the cabrales cheese was a bit too strong and too much. Good cheese, just need it in much smaller portions.

Overall, it was the best meal in a while at a surprisingly modest price - 6 small plates and a bottle of wine for just around £50. I'll also add that they serve complementary still or sparkling water which is a rare find in any city. To top it off, at one point our plates were cleared by José Pizarro himself who asked us how our meal was - not a bad sign at all. Will definitely be visiting Pizarro and the original tapas bar José soon and next time will try out the larger dishes.